MeyerholdTechnique

Performer’s (imagery and action) Concept and Technique

Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold
(10 February [O.S. 28 January] 1874 — 2 February 1940?)
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold- was a Russian director, actor and producer whose provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern theatre.
Concept:
1. Raccourci – instantaneous expressive movement
2 Requirements:
3. innate capacity fro reflex excitability enable to cope with physical characterization
4. physical competence- sense of balance , the ability to sense at any given movement the location of his/her center of gravity
2. Biomechanics – a technique for achieving maximum physical and mental preparedness and responsiveness
3. Taylorism(Winslow Taylor- 1911) an approach to breaking down manufacturing processes into assembly line tasks based on studies of labor efficiency- actors use of motion.

Technique:
Meyerhold's acting technique had fundamental principles at odds with the American method actor's conception. Where method acting melded the character with the actor's own personal memories to create the character’s internal motivation, Meyerhold connected psychological and physiological processes and focused on learning gestures and movements as a way of expressing emotion outwardly. Following Stanislavski's lead, he argued that the emotional state of an actor was inextricably linked to his physical state (and vice versa), and that one could call up emotions in performance by practicing and assuming poses, gestures, and movements. He developed a number of body expressions that his actors would use to portray specific emotions and characters.

Note:
Sample- Training and directing
- Object: action –reaction